Step-by-Step: Automating Your Newsletter Creation with AudioPen and Zapier

When I started building in public over 2 years ago, one of my goals was connecting with other creators. I took 65+ Zoom calls in 3 months. It was great - at first. But the hours spent on video meetings drained me.

So, I stopped all Zoom calls and only do phone calls which allowed me to go on walks and get my daily steps in, fixing the issue.

Then last summer, the brain foggy-ness started to creep up again. I knew the excessive computer usage was the issue - even with my walk-and-talk sessions.

Now, thanks to AI and automation, I can create newsletter outlines and full drafts using my ideas in minutes using my phone and voice dictation… so, I can spend more time outdoors (keeping me sane)…

Today, I’ll show you how you can do the same.

What You'll Learn Today

• The key to consistency without burnout

• How to capture newsletter ideas through voice

• Steps to automate drafting using AudioPen and Zapier

If you’re feeling uninspired or lacking consistency in your content output, I can’t recommend this workflow enough.

The benefits are not only for increasing productivity but also for keeping your health on point.

Creator Burnout

I’ve burnt out before. It sucks. Unfortunately, it’s a way too common experience amongst creators.

According to ConvertKit’s 2022 State of the Creator Economy report, 61% of creators are facing burnout...

This is one of the many reasons I love automation.

And now with AI, it’s another tool you can leverage to help mitigate these problems.

Using AudioPen To Write Outlines and Drafts

If you’re unfamiliar with AudioPen, it allows you to “turn messy notes into clear, coherent thoughts”.

• You record a note (up to 15 minutes long).

• It cleans up the text, removing filler words

Here is a quick overview of my workflow:

• Dictate your thoughts into AudioPen

• Tag the note “5-Minute Newsletter” when done

That’s it!

The automation works in the background.

The result?

An entire outline, full post using your ideas formatted in a Google Doc and stored in your content database.

Prefer to use a tool like Otter.ai?

No problemo.

The template I’m sharing with you today will walk you through how to use the same workflow with Otter.ai.

This workflow is flexible and works whether you write a newsletter, blog posts, or social. Just remember to tweak prompts to format it for other types of content.

As usual, I wrote a step-by-step walkthrough with the Zap template included…

If you’re ready to “install” and prevent burnout, and increase your creativity then grab the template below.

Keep reading if you’d like a quick overview of how the automation works…

Automating the Process with Zapier

Here is how it works:

Step 1: The automation continues only if a new AudioPen note contains the "5-Minute Newsletter" tag.

Step 2: ChatGPT creates an outline based on the AudioPen transcript, tailored to your audience

Step 3: ChatGPT fills in each subsection

Step 4: ChatGPT writes the intro

Step 5: Optional - Format to HTML

Step 6: Output the entire draft to Google Docs

Step 7: Update your content database with info and context

In seconds you have a full post in Google Docs using your ideas, automatically organized.

Say goodbye to the soul-crushing pressure of staring down a blank page, struggling to find the right words.

Organize and Repurpose Your Content

The workflow I’ve shared with you streamlines the newsletter creation while keeping everything organized in your content database.

So you can organize and tag all your content, making it easy to search, repurpose and distribute.

Click below to grab the exact Zapier template I use to automate the entire process.

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